Updates and feature removal in the app

🇬🇧 English speaking Forum The "News"
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Hey everyone :wave:t2:

You will notice in the coming months quite a few changes being made in the Training app. We’re really trying to take on board some of the feedback we’ve received over the last year to make it easier to navigate around and also remove some of the mostly unwanted clutter. As an example you’ll notice that the “Shop” tab has already been removed.

The result of this is that some of our least used features may also get removed at some point in the future. I’ll keep updating this conversation so that there is a source of truth for everything that we do take out.

I know for sure that for some of you, you will be disappointed when certain features come out of the app, but making these changes will benefit every single user in the long term by making the Training experience more integrated and easier to use.

And let us know if you feel very strongly about anything in particular-I can’t promise that we will always be able to act on it, but we do want to hear you.

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:clapclapstatic:

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So, I will keep an updated list of features :point_down:t2: that have been removed as of now:

24 May 2022

  • The “Shop” tab
  • The Training Spot feature completely-you won’t be able to select one nor will you see the Training Spot tile in the “Explore” tab
  • The Mindset session has been removed from the “Coach” tab (All the Mindset coaching sessions are all still accessible at the bottom of the “Explore” tab or via the “Explore all” button in the Coach tab if this has been removed for you)
  • The one click Jump Rope “Buy now” button

1 June 2022

The “Knowledge” card sessions from the Coach tab have been removed completely.

6 June 2022

The Spotify integration
The final few references to Training Spots

30 June 2022

The standalone Apple Watch experimental feature
The session tile in the “Coach” tab-now the assigned workout is directly visible in this tab, showing the scheduled training on any given day

11 July 2022

The Training Journey tile from the Explore tab. You can now change your Training Journey directly in your Coach settings.

14 July 2022

Testing the removal of the “Explore” tab For those in this test, you can access all this content from the Coach tab in the app.

18 July 2022

Freeletics Stories has now been completely removed for all users

1 August 2022

Introduction of the “One post to feed” removing some unnecessary screens and tapping

12 August 2022

If you navigate into your feed and visit a post, when you go back you will not be sent back to the top anymore and will be able to continue scrolling from the same point.

22 August 2022

The location of your activities in the profile tab has been updated. More explanations in this post.

6 September 2022

An extra screen has been removed, and the star is automatically assigned. More info in this post.

19 September 2022

Introduced a new colour scheme in the app, including Dark mode compatibility.

10 October 2022

  • Update to Feedback screen for Barbell Gain, bringing it in to line with the Bodyweight feedback screen
  • We have introduced all Barbell exercises to the “Single exercise” list
  • The weight for Barbell exercises can now be edited following the same process for Dumbbell/Kettlebell exercises
  • The rest periods for Barbell intervals can now be skipped
  • Introduced an MVP workout builder, allowing users to create and save their own Warmup, Cooldown and Intervals

7 November 2022

5 December 2022

Rollout of the first complete iteration of the workout builder on both Android and iOS

2 March 2023

Rollout of the removal of the “Finish workout button”, allowing Athletes to complete an interval with a tap/swipe.

:clapclapstatic:

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Hi Ben,

Thanks for the info - I’ve also noticed yesterday the app does not connect to my Spotify Premium account, which is of course active. Any updates on that? Thanks a loy in advance, MfG, Gaby

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Hey Gaby, and welcome. I believe it’s only removed from the Beta app but it is indeed going to be removed from Production this week. I updated the list :+1:t2:

Just on the Spotify integration, talking to users the vast majority of Athletes tell us they launch the Spotify app separately on their device when training, so the integration just isn’t helpful to most.

:clapclapstatic:

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That’s a pity. I akways use the spotify integration

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Hi, following an update yesterday I can now no longer adapt my coach sessions (Unless the button has moved and i’m missing it!).

Is this a glitch in the beta app or is it being removed?

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It is getting fixed as we talk

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Thanks Ben!! It’s a pity, I used it all the time :frowning: . New times coming.

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Hello Freeletics. Where are the great news that were announced to make us renew the anual subscription before prices increase? Just a way of catching us? I have been reading about great news for the last year or more. I regret paying again my year subscription sadly.

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Hi Ben, any updates since June 6? It looks like the Apple Watch beta has been removed? This is a huge bummer since I now can’t use my watch for run workouts (I don’t like having to carry my phone). Can you confirm that this was removed and not a glitch? And will it be returning in the future?

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Same here :frowning:
This was the killer feature for me, since I hate running with my phone. It was also the main argument when I recommend this app to my friends.
I really hope that the removal is just a glitch and the feature will return shortly to the app :pray:

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BRING BACK APPLE WATCH FEATURE !

Why did you do that ? seriously !

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Hey Adam :wave:t2:

The standalone Apple Watch app has indeed been removed from the app. I understand that these changes will disappoint some people but I can assure you that we are doing this in order to provide an even better training experience in the long run.

This experimental feature has not been used by more than 1% of our athletes. So when it comes time to make a decision about the investment in maintaining such a feature, compared to the use that is being made of it, the decision may be to abandon it and allocate the resources to other projects. This is what happened with the Apple Watch.

You can still use the remote control function on the watch, but for running, you’ll have to run with your phone, or fill in your race data manually once your run with the apple watch is over.

As for its return, it’s not something I would completely rule out, but I don’t think it’s something to expect anytime soon.

The feedback on the topic is useful to us though-and I will make sure to share all the feedback collected here in the team :+1:t2:

:clapclapstatic:

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But the main reason for this is that most of the users didn’t even know that this feature existed. If it wasn’t a Beta and hidden in the settings even more people would be aware of it and also use it.

I will also miss this feature a lot and find it a big mistake to remove such a useful feature.

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Yeah, I understand completely that many Athletes will be disappointed @Pascal, I said in my very first post in this topic that I knew that there would be some sadness when certain features are removed.

One piece of the current work we are trying to do currently is to make it easier for all users to understand exactly what features are available-at the moment there are many, many features, in different places in the app, and we regularly get feedback, particularly (although definitely not exclusively!) from newer users, that it is difficult to understand everything available.

:clapclapstatic:

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So updates so far are just remove things? I’m a long time user of freeletics, and I like running.
3 years ago, when you added the standalone app, it was a revolution; yeah sure, a lot of apps already have done it, but now I can run with my Apple Watch and freeletics.
Now it’s time to move to something else: i wait that version .23 expire in 60 days in TestFlight and I’ll move to another app. I really like to train, but I want to see my heart rate for example (does the coach use that data?). Also the Apple Watch app collect much more informations about pace, cadence, etc.
Sadly, a very useful thing, hidden in settings menu and in beta for 3 or 4 years now is removed.
It’s time to go for me: thanks for everything freeletics, you bring me back years ago with that feature and now you’re losing me because of that :wave:

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That’s really sad for the Apple Watch, it was one of the best features in the app.
I understand the low adoption, but it was experimental and only for Apple, so the numbers are expected to be low. Really hope to get it back

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Hi Ben,
in my opinion, Apple Watch Standalone is (was :cry:) one of the most useful features at all. You don‘t need to take your phone for a run, not even for a bodyweight workout. And as @cogidoo mentioned, it is much easier to go for a run without taking your phone. I‘m pretty sure the number of Watch Standalone users would increase rapidly if you would enable and promote it as I know many runners who only use a GPS watch and are happy not to carry their phones.

And manually adding a run isn‘t a good alternative if it comes to interval runs…

You really created a great App and I love to train using the coach, but removing Apple Watch Standalone completely really is a disappointment.

Best regards

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I just did an interval run with the „new“ combo of watch and phone and it‘s really a step backwards. Previously at the watch, I could see my heart rate and the overall process of the intervals. Now, there is no heart rate and if I forgot to count the intervals, I have to pull out my phone and to check if this is interval 8 or 12 or something… it‘s annoying :frowning:

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